The top 10 entertainment highlights on our gaydar this week: Skyfall brings James Bond back, while artist Richard Renaldi brings us on vacation, and somehow we end up in a Shark Tank.
November 09 2012 2:29 PM EST
November 17 2015 5:28 AM EST
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10. MUSIC: III, Crystal Castles
This Canadian electronica band can sometimes be infectious, other times grating. We're hearing their latest work is more of the former than latter: first single "Plague" is indeed haunting and its video, disturbing (and is that a lesbian subplot, we see?).
9. ART: "Think Again: Collected Public Works," David John Attyah and S.A. Bachman
"Think Again" is a collaborative project that mixes art and politics in exploring such issues as homophobia, the war on women, AIDS activism, and immigrant rights. This exhibit at the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center's Advocate and Gochis galleries focuses on public works Attyah and Bachman have created over the past two decades, with many of them making their L.A. debut. The show opens today and continues through December 15; there's a reception with the artists next Thursday.
8. EVENTS: Miami Book Fair
Miami's book lovers will descend upon its annual book festival, a week-long event that brings together more than 350 authors and thousands of literature lovers. LGBT authors that will take the podium include T Cooper, who will read from his latest, Real Man Adventurers, Jeanne Cordova with her 1970s lesbian feminist memoir, When We Were Outlaws: A Memoir of Love and Revolution, and bisexual author Susie Bright answers questions about sex and politics with her daughter and fellow writer, Aretha Bright. (Above: Ruben and Isabel Toledo.)
Visit SouthFloridaGayNews.com for a list of LGBT authors expected to present their work, and MiamiBookFair.com for the entire schedule of events.
7. BOOKS: The Lost Battles: Leonardo, Michelangelo, and the Artistic Duel That Defined The Renaissance, Jonathan Jones
Those of us who weren't given a proper art history education may only think of Leonardo and Michelangelo as those brilliant Italian artists who two of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are named after. But noted art historian Jonathan Jones quickly paints the scene: just after finishing The Last Supper, aging artistic genius Leonardo da Vinci is recruited to post-Medici Florence to paint The Battle of Anghiari, a narrative fresco, for the Great Council Hall in 1503. He finds himself working side by side with 30-year-old Michelangelo, who just accomplished sculpting the statue of David and is now painting The Battle of Cascina in the same room. Talk about ancient drama.
6. THEATER: When Last We Flew
Harrison David Rivers's play about a closeted Kansas teenager whose life is changed when he reads Angels in America gets its West Coast premiere -- and its first production since its debut at the New York Fringe Festival in 2010. That production won a GLAAD Media Award for outstanding off-off-Broadway play. The show is now being staged at San Diego's Diversionary Theatre, where previews began this week and performances continue through December 9.
5. DVDs: Vamps, Dust Up, The Doctor's Wife
It's a great weekend for campy DVD releases, starting with Amy Heckerling's Vamps, reuniting the Clueless director with Alicia Silverstone, who stars alongside Krysten Ritter as two modern New York single lady vampires trying to navigate love in the Big Apple. The DVD, from Anchor Bay Entertainment, hits stores November 13. Watch the trailer below:
Dust Up
Amber Benson (pictured at top) stars in this gritty, self-referential "grindhouse western," released on DVD through Breaking Glass Pictures November 13.Dust Up, directed by Ward Roberts, features Benson as single mother Ella, who finds herself entrenched in the violent dystopic wild-west world of her methed-out boyfriend, Jack. Featuring no shortage of blood, guts, guns, and even masturbatory cannibalism, Dust Up is a treat for anyone in love with the grindhouse style.
The Doctor's Wife
Austrailian documentary The Doctor's Wife follows Dr. Vincent Cornelisse and his partner, Duffy, as they make the life-altering decision to leave the comfort of their urban hometown in Brisbane and move to a small, rural town in Queensland, Australia. The film, available on DVD November 13 through Guest House Films, delves into the couple's nerve-wracking journey as they try to settle in to small-town life, hoping for acceptance from their new neighbors.
4. TV: Shark Tank
Emmy Award-winner Bruce Vilanch will brave the waters of Shark Tank, ABC's cutthroat reality television show where entrepreneurs pitch business ideas to a board of potential investors. The bespectacled Hollywood Squares alum will demonstrate a virtual classroom designed by David Cox, the openly gay creator of The MAC Guru and PC Classes Online. Only a handful of LGBT contestants have appeared on Tank, known as the "American Idol of Business," so this might be one episode worth investing in! Shark Tank airs tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern/8 p.m. Central.
3. ART: "Hotel Room Portraits, 1999-2012," Richard Renaldi
Renaldi keeps adding to his photographic record of his hotel stays with his partner, Seth Boyd, in locations from Texas to Thailand. The intimate portraits provide "an affirmation of our commitment to each other over a span of many years," Renaldi told The Advocate recently. (See their previous Artist Spotlight.) An exhibition of the photos opens Saturday at Wessel + O'Connor Fine Art in Lambertville, N.J., and runs through December 23.
2. MUSIC: Lotus, Christina Aguilera
This is supposed to be Xtina's comeback album, but radio didn't take too kindly to first single, "Your Body," even though the song and video are pretty fun. The Voice host is not as likeable as Britney or Katy, but Aguilera does have those pipes, so giving Lotus a spin on Spotify may be worth your time.
1. FILM: Skyfall
The newest chapter in the James Bond saga, Skyfall marks the series' 50th anniversary with characteristic drama, intrigue, and things that go boom. We have a long love affair with Bond, and with Daniel Craig, who reprises his role as 007, back from the presumably dead to help Judi Dench's M save the world from new Bond villian Javier Bardem. The latest installment is written by gay screenwriter John Logan, and it has media critics abuzz about a homoerotic scene. The critics are also hailing the film, which opens in theaters today, as a high-caliber, intellectual thriller that humanizes the superspy in ways unseen in chapters prior. Watch the trailer below: